1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrophoresis gels and apparatuses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of electrophoresis of biomolecules such nucleic acids, peptides and proteins, various kinds of gels have been used as the electrophoresis medium. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,646 describes the use of polysaccharide gel blends for stacking electrophoresis systems, including gels which are said to be "thermoreversible" and "pH reversible", that is the gels can be liquefied by melting the polymer at high temperatures or changing the pH to neutralize the charge on the gel. It is desirable that the gels used in electrophoresis be reversible so that sections of the gel medium containing each of the different biomolecules can be liquefied and the desired molecules recovered from the liquid solution.
However, in the case of many of the gels described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,646, the thermoreversible gels can only be made liquid at relatively high temperatures of 65.degree. C. or greater which that can damage many biomolecules and denature protein molecules. Similarly, the pH reversible gels described in this patent require pH of 3 or less which can also denature or damage protein molecules. Therefore, there exists a need for electrophoresis gel which is reversible at relatively mild conditions which will not damage the biomolecules to be recovered from the liquefied gel.